138 
THE CONDOR 
VOL. VI 
FROM FIELD AND STUDT 
The Capture of Totanus glareola in Alaska. — During a collecting trip to the island of 
Sanak in 1894, while I was collecting sets of the .Aleutian song sparrow along the beach, May 27, 
I flushed from behind some large boulders a flock of Aleutian sandpipers. When they flew I 
detected a peculiar bird note from their direction, and as it was new to me I looked to .see if I 
could detect the owner. I soon discovered a long-legged snipe in the flock, which appeared to 
have been the author of the note. The flock soon settled on the beach not far off, and I was soon 
after the snipe, which alighted some distance beyond the others. It proved to be very shy, but I 
at last killed it, after firing several times at long range and following along the beach for half a mile. 
The specimen, which proved to be a female, was sent to the Smithsonian Institution, and 
there identified by Mr. Ridgway as Tot aims glareola. Three days after taking the specimen 
another bird was seen, which I feel reasonably certain belonged to this species, but like the other 
it was so wild that I could not get a shot, at a reasonable range. It finalh' flew out to sea and 
disappeared. This species is not recorded in the American Ornithologists’ Uiiion Check-list, I 
believe, through a misunderstanding on my part. The specimen is still in nu’ collection. — CiiASit 
Littlejohn, Redwood City, California. 
A Visit to Torrey Pities. — Sorrento, the location of the far-famed Torrey pines, is a 
LOOKING EAST FROM LARGEST GROVE OF TORREY PINES 
place' filled with interest to more than one class of pleasure seekers. Besides the scrubby growth 
of pines found at no other place on the globe but on the few square miles of coast land at this 
point and on two of the Santa Barbara Islands, we find here some of the most picturesque and 
rugged cliffs which it has been my good fortune to see in this part of the state. The formation 
is a light yellowish sandstone, which the action of the elements for centuries has sculptured 
into caves, holes and crevices of the most wierd and fantastic shapes, affording protection to 
many wild animals and birds. These holes and caves are a favorite nesting place for the Amer- 
ican barn owl [Strix pratincola), and the great horned owl {Bubo virginianus). 
The accompanying illustration is from a photograph taken by the writer on Saturday, 
March 21st. Claude Conklin and myself started out at daylight and covered the intervening 
eighteen miles between San Diego and Sorrento with our horse and buggy in the early part of 
the forenoon, lunching among the Torrey pines at the point from which the picture was taken. 
After lunch we started out prospecting for views, nests, eggs, birds or almost anything interest- 
ing. While visiting the owlery we discovered seven nests and took a few sets of barn owl eggs, 
and secured a picture of a family of three j'oung great horned owls in a cave about twentj' feet 
from the base of a cliff and probably sixty feet from the top. We found access to the cave 
rather difficult, especially with the camera, as we were obliged to traverse a narrow ledge for 
thirty or forty feet, much of the way being very uncertain owing to the loose sand lodged 
against the cliff. After arriving at the nest we still experienced trouble, for the space was too 
narrow to allow of passing the camera, after it was set up, and the young owls refused to look 
